Review: #814
Title: Voices of a Distant Star
Series: N/A
Author: Makoto Shinkai & Mizu Sahara
Comments: This is a manga adaptation of the short film Voices of a Distant Star by Makoto Shinkai. Unlike the film, the manga takes a while before it explains the premise, being that Nagamine is separated from her love Noboru through time and space. Each message they send to each other takes longer and longer, to the point of years as Nagamine moves out to the edge of the solar system and beyond it. However, it does gives a stronger backstory and also the reason why Nagamine was sent to outer space and the nature of the alien Tharsians. On the other hand, due to not having any music or just by not being animated, it loses some of the surreal quality that the film had. The author has taken the effort to flesh out some more plot points including a more substantial ending that gives closure, something that the original left vague. Overall, the manga adaptation still manages to evoke some of the melancholy emotions that the main characters must be feeling in their predicament and is a memorable bittersweet story.
Rating: 6.5/10
